Limitations of the study

This study contributes to understand how development methodologies influence the practice of developing DDSS. Primary sources of information were used from a study organization in Colombia and direct contact with IT analyst with experience in the topic was illustrative.

However the results from the study cannot be generalized using a single case study, the possibility to include other cases was restricted by the time available and the availability of secondary sources. On the other hand the results and the information generated in the study can serve for further research.

5.4 Reflection on the framework

This framework has been proposed by Avison and Fitzgerald (2006) to analyse software development methodologies, this starting point help us to put in the same level the development methodologies for DDSS. While helping to focus the review of those methodologies it also leaded to the identification of topics of special interest in the area.

The framework is also useful to study a case where the development methodologies might be applied. It was necessary to discard some elements as they do not provide much information for a case study beside it was complemented with the findings mentioned above. The use of the framework supported the identification of the sources of information and the application of selected methods.

The use of the framework in the research contributed to understand the case study organization and to relate it to the theoretical proposals in most senses. However it lacks detail

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on how the activities of the lifecycle are organized, if they are linear or iterative. There could have been a deeper discussion in this area but out of the framework landscape, some part of the discussion has been presented under the scope element of the framework.

5.5 Conclusions This research has shown:

That dimensional modelling is one of the most appreciated techniques in the development of DDSS. The dimensional modelling represents a different mindset of IT analyst that work for simplicity and accessibility of data instead of the aims of transactional data modelling. The change of mindset is the first and sometimes the hardest step to be able to develop DDSS.

The construction of a complete DDSS is made in several projects and by several teams, it is very important to have a mechanism to take care of the architecture of the whole system to avoid isolation and problems among sub systems. For example DW bus Matrix or Corporate Information Factory.

Another important feature of DDSS is that is built on top of other information systems, mainly TPS. In order to give the system credibility and manage user expectations it is necessary to adopt a demand/supply driven approach. Sources should be reviewed from the start of the project for all stages of the project, especially during requirements elicitation, design, and ETL construction.

IT analysts consider that the stages of the software development life cycle are applicable to the development of DDSS. However they include activities proposed in the life cycle of specifically designed methodologies in each of the development phases.

Further research can attempt to apply this framework and methodology to different cases to verify how the results of this study can be applied in different context. Other researchers can prove if factor shaping a method are the same as in this case, refute or complement them, they can interview people and review project documentation to identify what is the actual method use to develop DDSS.

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